What Comes After
by MusicSavesMe711
Summary: What comes after the end of the world? After the dust settles and the casualties are counted? Humans are resilient, and they are built to rebuild after a fall, but how much is too much to handle? Dave Strider thinks he knows... [Rated T for swearing and minor amounts of blood]
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not have the legendary Hussie lips, therefore I couldn't possibly own Homestuck!**

**A/N: This is my first Homestuck fanfiction, and I'm sure I have a lot of editing to do, but I wanted to post it so that I can motivate myself to get it finished and maybe get some feedback so that the rest of it is truer to the characters; I don't know how well I did here...**

**Also, just so it's clear, this is an alternate universe where the circumstances of the end of the world are slightly different, and the different worlds in the Medium do not exist; I wrote this for a creative writing assignment in school where the people reading it will not be familiar with Homestuck and it would be absurd to attempt explaining it to them. Also, Rose's mom and John's dad do not die in this universe.**

**Warning: Character Death, Minor Gore**

Finally, my work was done; I could stop time-hopping, I could go back to everyone else's present, I could find my brother. It felt like he'd been gone for so long, even though I was the one who was gone, but I had to do my part right. I couldn't create a doomed timeline; I had to travel in the right way to ensure that my friends were as safe as possible, even if the world was crumbling apart around us. Being the Knight of Time means always being alone, but it's an important job if we're going to survive the Reckoning we brought upon ourselves. But I'd done my part for now! It was up to John now. Heir of Breath… I had no idea what that meant, but as he was the leader of our party, I know whatever it meant he was, it had to be pretty damn important. I could search for Dirk now… He'd taken care of me my whole life, and I knew he was stronger than I could imagine, but so was our enemy, and I couldn't leave him alone to die when we were looking for what we needed to survive!

It felt as if my insides froze when I appeared at our community's soccer field, an open field at the end of the block our apartment was on. Like everything else on our planet, it was ravaged by the meteors, tracks of dirt carved into the field as though a great monster had taken offense to its existence and tried to tear it from the earth it stood on. The grass was alight in places, small fires burning but doomed to die when they could no longer spread. I expected the devastation here, and that wasn't what ripped the air from my lungs; lying at my feet was a familiar pair of sunglasses. They weren't like mine; they were pointed instead of rounded, and if I'd cared to pass judgment on them at the moment I would've scoffed at their absurdity, but I was more concerned with the brownish substance dried on the lenses. I bent down and picked them up, and to my dawning horror with a closer examination I could tell that the substance was definitely blood. I couldn't be too late; I was a time traveler—I was supposed to have all the time in the world.

I ran in the direction where I saw scarlet and black stains on the grass, knowing but refusing to acknowledge that they meant both my brother and his opponent were injured. I'd be the only time traveler in the universe that didn't have enough time to save his own brother if I'd really screwed up despite all of my careful planning. Wasn't so careful if I'd neglecting the guy who raised me, though, so I guess I can't even say that. No Dave, don't think about it, he's alive, he has to be, keep moving, go find him! I made it around the bleachers and stopped in my tracks before I could even process what I saw in front of me.

The first thing that occurred to me was the stench. It reeked of blood and shit, and I knew it was a dead body before my brain would process who it was. But I recognized that sword, that shirt, those boots, that hair, this was my brother's body and he'd been run through with his own katana and pinned to the ground. I stumbled backwards a few steps, feeling bile in the back of my throat, but I slipped and fell on my ass just a few feet away from my brother's corpse. I really was too late, I couldn't save him—I realized suddenly that even though I was sitting on grass, there was no reason for it to be slick enough to make me fall. I raised a hand to my face and saw that it was redder than it should be, scarlet etched into the lines of my hand and holy hell I'd slipped in my own brother's blood, he was dead, I felt like I was going to throw up—

And then I was sick, right there where I sat, only just managing to roll over so I didn't get myself any messier than I already was, sitting there behind the bleachers of the soccer field I'd played on all my life, covered in the blood of the only person I'd never admit I really did love. I didn't have to admit it, though; the tears streaming down my face did that for me. I staggered to my feet, falling to my knees next to Bro's body as if the sobs wracking mine were a physical presence behind me forcing me to kneel there. I closed his eyes as gently as I could and placed the sunglasses I'd found and kept on the bridge of his nose where they belonged.

"I'm sorry I fucked up, Bro… If I could go back in time to save you, I would…" I slammed my fists down on the ground. "I'm a goddamn time traveler and I can't even use it to save my own brother! _What the hell use am I if I can't even save one person?_"

I was pulled out of my wallowing by a chime from my phone. I wanted so badly to ignore it, but my friends were still in directly in the path of danger, just where I was heading back to as soon as I could pull myself together, and I refused to let one of their calls go unanswered. I didn't do unnecessary things like alter my facial expression to show my feelings, but I'd do whatever it took to save them anyway.

- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 15:37 -

GG: Dave, there might be something wrong with your bro

GG: John and Rose just found their parents, and they were fighting Noir so they almost died-

GG: Find your bro right now

TG: I already found him.

GG: Oh, that's great!

TG: I was too late.

GG: Oh, Dave…

GG: I'm so sorry…

TG: Is there something you needed?

TG: Cause I'm about to find Noir and flip the fuck off the handle

GG: Dave, you can't!

GG: If you confront him, you'll die, too!

- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 15: 48 -

I closed the application and slid my phone back into my pocket, pushing my shades up my nose as is my habit. I felt them stick to my hand, so I took them off to see what it was only to see that there was blood smeared on them now too. Sliding the sunglasses back onto my face, I stood and started walking away; when I got to the edge of the street, I turned and saluted at what was left of my brother, leaving for the apartment without another gesture, making a point of kicking over a trashcan on the way even though it made my whole leg sore. He couldn't see or hear me anyway, so why should I do anything else? There was still work to do, and it would be moronic of me to ignore that in favor of mourning someone I had the rest of my life to mourn. Hell, maybe this stupid game was unwinnable; maybe the apocalypse would kill us all and then I wouldn't have to worry about it at all. It's not like I'd never gone a few days without seeing my brother, considering his tendency to take off to the puppet factory or wherever the hell he goes whenever I'm not paying attention, which is always. Anyway, my work with time-hopping might have been done, but there was still plenty more work to follow if I wanted to keep everyone else alive.

Time to get down to business.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Homestuck.**

**A/N: I figured I'd post the second chapter up tonight before I turn in. I finished the rest of the story, but I want to look it over at least once before I submit it, so I'll look over it while I'm visiting Drexel tomorrow. I don't know if I'll get on to upload it then, but it'll be up quickly!  
**

**Also, this chapter and the rest of the story is from John's point of view.**

Finally, we were all going to be reunited! We had been using our gadgets to communicate and coordinate our strategies to escape the apocalypse, and it really wasn't all that abnormal since we had only talked online so far anyway, but I was excited to see everyone! Until I saw them, I wouldn't know for sure that they were okay, after all… After everything we'd been through, after all we'd risked and lost, after we'd almost died ourselves… Seeing my friends' faces was all I could think about. I was with Jade already, and she had Bec with her and I had my dad, but we hadn't seen Rose and Dave yet. Man, it felt like it had been so long since we'd had regular lives, but the disaster had taken place within 24 hours! Jade and I walked up to the burnt-out building we'd chosen as our rendezvous point to see Rose standing there with her mother, waiting. Where was Dave? We were barely on time as it was, and wasn't he supposed to be the one out of all of us who was best with time? There shouldn't be anything left to make him late, either.

We'd only been there for a few moments, all of us still standing and facing each other as we wondered what to say, when we heard footsteps. Considering we were the only humans left on the earth, it had to be Dave! He really was all right! I saw Rose's hand creep towards her pocket, but I suppose we were all a little paranoid after all the battling we'd been doing. The footsteps didn't sound even, either; whoever was coming was limping. Maybe it wasn't Dave; he hadn't mentioned being hurt to me, anyway, and there was only one set of footsteps. I followed Rose's example; I looked over to Jade to see what she was doing, but she was only standing there with a forlorn expression. Did she know something we didn't? As I was busy having that thought, Dave made it around the edge of the wall that had been hiding him from us beforehand; it really was him. But holy shit, what the hell had happened?! His left ankle was wrapped in bandages, and he was covered in blood—it was on his clothes, in his hair, on his sunglasses, even smeared across his face. He didn't tell me he'd been hurt!

And he was alone.

"Dave…" Jade ran up to him and hugged him, but he just stood there. He didn't reply, didn't move his arms to hug her in return, nothing; he didn't seem to react at all, at first. Then I realized he was crying, tears dripping down his cheeks steadily, and my next realization was that there was no blood where those tears fell, so this wasn't all the crying he'd been doing lately. I took a few hesitant steps towards them, Rose right there with me.

"Dude… what happened? Where's-?"

"I didn't want you to know." He cut me off, but I didn't mind. His voice was almost timorous—not what I'd expected from cool kid Dave Strider at all—but I just wanted to know what the hell he was talking about. "It's not my blood. I…" He couldn't finish, pulling himself from Jade's grip. "My brother's dead."

"What?" That question came from Rose.

"He died while I was time-hopping. I didn't want you to be distracted worrying about it; it was too late, anyway." He was walking away from us, towards the same wall that had hidden him from us at first; he didn't make it all the way there before he sank to the ground though, burying his face in his hands. "I was too busy goofing off and I didn't even know that my own brother was dead!" The short scream burst out of him like he just couldn't hold it back any longer, and as his best friend, I rushed over to his side and pulled him into a bro-hug.

"Dave, I'm so sorry… You'll come stay with me, all right? We might not be able to bring him back, but we won't let you be alone." With him in my arms, I could feel the trembling I couldn't see before, but slowly, he brought his arms around my back and returned the hug, pulling me closer and leaning his forehead on my shoulder.

"I just… He's really gone-"

"I know… It won't be easy, but we'll all be here for you." I pasted a small smile on my face even though he couldn't see it, and Rose and Jade smiled encouragingly in return (though Jade's was considerably more enthusiastic). "I'm so sorry…" I always knew that Dave didn't hate his brother as much as he let on, but I hadn't wanted this kind of proof. Even so, there was nothing any of us could do about it now. His brother was gone; we were going to do our best to work around it, of course, but that was all we _could _do. We couldn't replace his brother in any way; Dave was alone in that sense, but we could be his new family. We were the only humans left alive; that had to count for something in way of unity, didn't it?

"He was always gone, but he's not coming back this time; he's not coming back and he left me with all of those goddamn smuppets and he's not coming back, Jesus, he's not coming back!" I could see my dad and Rose's mom holding hands over Dave's shoulder, watching the scene sadly, and Rose and Jade were kneeling on either side of us, showing their support with their presence. I don't think Dave was even listening to us; he was just becoming more and more hysterical. My first instinct was to get him inside, but why? It wasn't like there was anyone else around to see. Even if there were others, I think he was past the point of caring, his arms locked around my back as if he was afraid that I'd disappear, too; hell, he probably was. I'd been worried about everyone without having any particular reason, so he must have been making himself sick with worry—not the cool kind of sick either, or the kind that meant you got to play video games at home all day, I mean the kind that shot your temperature through the roof and made you think you'd rather be dead than feel this shitty for another second.

"Let's go home; Dave, we need to get you cleaned up, and I'm sure the rest of us could do with a hot shower and some food." The game hadn't been unwinnable as we'd all worried at some point, but it had taken its toll on all of us—Dave especially, considering he'd lived through more time in the game than the rest of us even before his brother's death. He didn't seem to hear my suggestion, but he didn't resist when I pulled him to his feet, and he allowed me to lead him to my house by the hand as everyone else followed. Rose and Jade flanked us like soldiers who were concerned the decimation around us was going to attack, all of us forming a chain with our linked hands, moving slowly to accommodate Dave's mysteriously injured ankle. He hadn't told us how that had happened, either…

"What happened to your ankle, anyway?" Jade wondered. "You never told me about that…"

Dave seemed to be retreating back into himself now. "Kicked a bucket," he murmured. "A heavy one."

"Is this more of your confounded irony?" I remember being glad that Jade picked up on that, because I'd been caught between being confused and appalled at the insensitive almost-euphemism.

"I literally kicked a bucket—I knocked over a trash can. Take it how you will."

"You—why would you—"

"You said not to flip off the handle. I didn't."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Well, this concludes my first Homestuck fanfiction. 4050 words~! I hope no one was terribly OOC, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were. Drop me a line and let me know where I went wrong? I promise I won't be offended owo**

We made it to my house without incident or interruption, and Bec settled himself in front of the fire as the adults herded us around the house, reverting back to their typical roles as caretakers now that we were out of the game. Rose and Jade got the master bathroom and bedroom to clean up while my dad cooked, and Dave and I were in my bathroom. I let Dave go first while I went through my dresser to find him clothes that would fit him and weren't caked in blood. I had wider shoulders than he did, but he had a good few inches on me in height. I managed to at least find him a baseball shirt and a pair of sweatpants, and I figured I'd wear sweats, too. The girls would no doubt be borrowing lounging clothes as well, and we all needed the comfort.

I took the extra clothes with me to the bathroom and knocked to make sure I wouldn't be intruding. I heard a muffled reassurance over the sound of running water that the door was unlocked, so I let myself in, looking to put the fresh clothes next to the old ones.

"I brought you new clothes, but where..?" Something occurred to me and I ripped open the shower curtain to see Dave sitting on the floor under the spray fully-clothed and even still wearing his shades. The water was clean where it fell from the showerhead, but he still looked like shit and the water that hit him came away the color of rust. "Dave…"

"I thought you were bringing in clothes, Egderp, not trying to catch an eyeful."

"Your clothes weren't outside, so I figured you had to still be wearing them. I am not a homosexual." I noticed that Dave was shivering where he was curled up under the water even if his expression was as stoic as ever, so I twisted the knob to a warmer setting and turned it off. It had been as cold as the water in the house gets. I sat on the edge of the tub. "Why don't you tell me what's up?"

"The world is fucked up, what else needs to be up?"

"We're all just fine, though. It's over. So why are you isolating yourself?"

"What if it's not real? If it's just another dream bubble, and I wake up and we're all still fighting for our lives, what then?"

"It's not a dream bubble! This isn't a memory—you're not asleep; you're not dead!"

Dave rocked forward to his knees and gripped the edge of the tub hard enough to turn his knuckles white. "Prove it," he hissed. The only way to wake someone who's in a dream bubble is serious physical injury, so naturally that request made me uncomfortable to say the least.

"I don't want to—"

"Then leave me alone." He leaned away from me, sitting back against the wall.

"You know I won't. Friends don't let other friends be miserable by themselves, even if that's what they want." Dave smirked, a mere shadow of what the expression used to be on his face.

"I knew you'd say that."

"Will you let me clean the shades while you get yourself cleaned up—for real this time?" Dave hesitated. "I promise I'll be careful with them." I don't know if Dave picked up on it, but I wasn't just talking about the shades. Sighing, he slid them off his face and held them out to me, his eyes focused on a point near his feet. I examined the glasses for a moment and then looked back up, meeting my best friend's eyes directly for the first time.

I'd always thought he wore the glasses to hide what he was thinking or be more like his brother, but I understood that I'd neglected a third option the moment I saw his eyes—his irises were the same vibrant red as the font he used on Pesterchum. I wasn't sure I could look away from them. With his eyes uncovered though, I could see the slight crease between his eyebrows as he waited for my reaction. I wondered how other people had reacted when they'd seen his eyes; it must have been bad if it bothered Dave enough to expect something like it from me.

"I don't see why you feel the need to wear these all the time," I said, even though I did. I tore my gaze away from his in an effort to pretend I wasn't staring at the unusual color and got up to start cleaning the sunglasses at the sink. In the mirror, I could see the slightest smile on Dave's face as he slid the curtain closed between us, but I wasn't looking at the mirror anymore when I heard the shower start running again and the 'splat' of water-logged clothing hitting the floor. I ignored the sound and started digging around the medicine cabinet for the cloth I used to clean my glasses while I let the water run warm.

"Don't use all the warm water, Egderp." I heard the warning float through the curtain.

"I won't," I promised, scrubbing at the glasses in small circles under the water, trying not to scratch the lenses even though I knew they'd at least have microscopic damage no matter how I tried to remove the blood. I'd get Dave a new pair some other time, but for now I figured he'd be dealing with enough without walking around with his eyes exposed. "I have to shower after you, remember? Even if I felt like pulling a prank as shitty as that one, I'd only be punishing myself." I just barely heard a snort in response.

"Can't underestimate your stupidity, you know."

I didn't respond for awhile, just worked at the glasses; I had little chance of winning an argument against Dave Strider, and definitely no chance at a trivial one like that. Then, before I could stop myself, I had to ask: "Are you okay?" The water had covered up any sounds of movement coming from Dave, so I couldn't tell for sure if he froze in place, but with the privacy of the shower I could almost be certain that he did, especially when the strained sound of his voice met my ears again.

"Just fine—absolutely peachy. You could pluck me off the tree and use me to bake desserts." If his tone didn't clue me in on how far from okay he was, the fact that he'd answered the wrong question did. Striders don't answer unasked questions when there's one that was already asked to worry about.

"I asked if you were okay, not how you are; now I know that you're not." I paused to let him respond, but he didn't. "This isn't the right time to worry about it, but… I'm around if you need to talk or something, okay?" I was met with more silence, but just as I got up to leave, I heard a low chuckle.

"Sure thing, Egderp. I'll be sure to ignore the fact that the statement itself makes this practically the most homo-bromance you've ever seen, since you're not a homosexual."

"Dave!"

Genuine laughter. "Go do whatever the hell it is you were going to do; we've all been freaking out over the rest of the world for way too long, and we've got a guy who plays with time like it's a retarded puppy on our side. Worry about yourself for a little bit; we have the rest of our lives to sweat the small stuff." I got the feeling he was trying to pull himself together with his own words, but I appreciated them anyway. We all had some piecing together to do, and I wouldn't begrudge him that; I was glad he'd dropped his cool guy façade for long enough to let me know he was working on it himself, and the rest of us would do the same. Maybe now that all of us were together, we'd be able to escape the puppet master who'd driven us through the game and the apocalypse with it. We hadn't realized the game was playing us until it was too late to change that any way but the hard way, but now that it was over, maybe we'd finally be given time to heal.


End file.
